Oh I wouldn't necessarily blame evolution since as for me,
focusing on the good is a survival skill driven by diffusing an
exaggerated sense of danger.
When I was little, I'd suffer from anxiety attacks. Probably 8
yrs old on up. At 11, Mom took me to biofeedback. Learned to
control my breathing, had to make machines noises go up and down
with only the force of my mind and stuff like that. Felt very
Star Wars-y to me so I didn't mind at all.
So I would exaggerate the positive as a response - hm - thinking
about it, I think you're onto something here.
There's few REAL dangers in civilized society yet we create
IMAGINARY dangers continually. News media feeds on it. Movies
feed on it. Scientists feed on it (so that we listen to them -
they LOVE doom and gloom prophesies) as well as other religious
leaders....
Maybe it's to feed that circuit (there's computer-brain analogy
here) - that needs stimulation - the fight/freeze/flight
amygdala so that we don't get bored, and keep moving, doing,
creating, etc.
Maybe fear *is* the driving force. I certainly credit the
Amygdala for many processes - and while there are more emotions
than fear that the amygdala produces, still, at the 'gist' of it
all, I suppose it's that.
Interesting food for thought, Jay. Maybe it *is* evolutionary
and my anti-Dawkins bias was blinding me. He kinda wrecked my
interest in evolutionary type analogies..
